What good is Wall Street? The New Yorker..& FOMC Minutes (another PR disaster by FED)

Say and mean what you like but this is an issue for the politics of banking and regulation. These types of stories are growing and growing - part of reason irrational but a lot of it is true - there is only one God in Wall Street and its green! (sorry if offending anyone of any religion) ----- 

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/29/101129fa_fact_cassidy

Also Fed Minutes - which an exercise in show-casing how lost FOMC is internally, externally and how they managed their communication. I offer my service for almost free to help them out:  Hint: Shut up for the next 3 years, and start abolishing yourself: FOMC Minutes

Annals of Economics

What Good Is Wall Street?

Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless.

by John Cassidy November 29, 2010

For years, the most profitable industry in America has been one that doesn't design, build, or sell a single tangible thing.

A few months ago, I came across an announcement that Citigroup, the parent company of Citibank, was to be honored, along with its chief executive, Vikram Pandit, for "Advancing the Field of Asset Building in America." This seemed akin to, say, saluting BP for services to the environment or praising Facebook for its commitment to privacy. During the past decade, Citi has become synonymous with financial misjudgment, reckless lending, and gargantuan losses: what might be termed asset denuding rather than asset building. In late 2008, the sprawling firm might well have collapsed but for a government bailout. Even today the U.S. taxpayer is Citigroup's largest shareholder.

The award ceremony took place on September 23rd in Washington, D.C., where the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to expanding economic opportunities for low-income families and communities, was holding its biennial conference. A ballroom at the Marriott Wardman Park was full of government officials, lawyers, tax experts, and community workers, two of whom were busy at my table lamenting the impact of budget cuts on financial-education programs in Vermont.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/11/29/101129fa_fact_cassidy#ixzz168hD8isQ